T-Town taproom: Druid City Brewing Co. serves beer where it's made

Bo Hicks, center behind bar, co-owner of Druid City Brewing Co., talks with patrons at the new Druid City Brewing Co.'s taproom on 14th Street on Wednesday. The taproom will have a grand opening on July 11.

Michelle Lepianka Carter | The Tuscaloosa News

By Ashley ChaffinStaff Writer

Published: Sunday, July 7, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 5, 2013 at 7:08 p.m.

Tuscaloosa's only brewery has opened a taproom, where customers can buy beers to drink where the suds are brewed.

Facts

Druid City Brewing Co. taproom

Grand opening: July 11. Druid City Brewing will serve its typical selection as well as the Queen City Reserve, an India Pale Ale with a different profile from the Lamplighter India Pale Ale.Hours: 4-8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2-8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Where: 607 14th St., across the street from Oz Music.

Druid City Brewing Co. plans a grand opening for its taproom on July 11, but the brewery's owners held a soft opening last weekend.

“We decided to do it quick and dirty on Saturday (June 29),” said Bo Hicks, co-owner of Druid City Brewing. “We had everything in line and we just wanted to kick the wheels and see how it worked.”

On June 29, the taproom was open to a select group of friends of Hicks and co-owner Elliott Roberts. On June 30, the co-owners used the brewery's official Facebook and Twitter pages to invite followers to come by and visit the new taproom.

From their social media posts, Druid City Brewing had about 60 customers over the course of the day. Right now, the brewery has on tap Druid City Wheat, Druid City Pale Ale and Lamplighter India Pale Ale, which are all $5 per pint. The brewery also sells merchandise such as shirts, hats and pint glasses.

The taproom has a refrigerated beer container called a “kegerator” that Roberts built and a chalkboard menu made from peg board left from when the space was a banjo parlor. It also has a custom-made bar created by Elliott McPherson of the Tuscaloosa band the Dexateens.

“They set me free on it,” McPherson said about the creation. “They gave me free rein to do whatever.”

He said he chose to focus on using the Druid City Brewing logos on the bar because of the traditional, iconic feel it has in the area. Hicks and Roberts received permission from Gordo artist Glenn House to use the design he created for the Moon Winx Lodge.

“I think what they are doing with the way they are branding is perfect because people in Tuscaloosa love tradition,” McPherson said. “People in Tuscaloosa love something that their parents have shared and that they can share with their children. I feel like what they are going for is that very thing. ... I think their beer is good, but I really think that the image is excellent.”

A taproom is something the brewery co-owners have considered since opening in November 2012, but Hicks said they originally thought there wasn't enough space.

“Our present tasting room was just our office,” Hicks said. “We kept having interest and people stopping by, so we decided that we could downgrade some of the present clutter we have to make our office our taproom.”

Hicks said he didn't want the taproom to compete with retail locations that sell the brewery's beers. Instead, he hopes the taproom will give people the opportunity to learn more about where they can buy Druid City beers.

“That's one of the reason we have this big, gnarly map (on the wall). We're about to have all our retail partners marked on there, so people can find our beers out in Tuscaloosa because that's where we want to be,” Hicks said. “We just want to use this as a way for people to get familiar with it or people from out of town to come by and visit.”

For the July 11 grand opening, Druid City Brewing will serve its typical selection as well as the Queen City Reserve, an India Pale Ale with a different profile from the Lamplighter India Pale Ale.

The taproom is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Druid City Brewing is across the street from Oz Music at 607 14th St.

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